The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-08-20
DUTCH FOOTWEAR.
The Substantial Wooden Shoes Worn b.
the Natives of Holland.

the Natives of Holland.
The Dutch wear heavy wooden shoes,
which render their gait laborious and
ungraceful. A number of Dutch bellies
OF the lower class drag these heavy
wooden shoes along with them. The
children seem to be able to manage
their wooden shoes much easier than
grown people. When dozen or more
little urchins indulge in a romp in the
street they set up clatter which can
be heard for blocks. The mother who
wishes to find her naughty child, who
has left its task for street play, does
not at first use her eyes in the search
for the juvenile Delinquent. She quietly
sticks one of her ears out of the win
dow, and when she hears loud clatter
which suggests the tearing down of
houses in the neighborhood, she rushes
toward the sound guided by her ears.
When, at length, breathing forth threat
enings and slaughter, she leads home
her shrieking offspring, the cries of the
latter are drowned by the music of
his companions footballs. The great
advantage of the wooden shoe is
its staying powers. Every one
does not require new pair of wooden
shoes in his or her lifetime. When the
honest citizen is informed by the bloom
ing daughter that she would like to
have new pair of wooden shoes, he
frowns and says: "My child, what
is the matter with that pretty pair
which your grandmother received as her
wedding gift? They are still neat, al
though not gaudy. You must remember
that times are hard, and that family ex-
penses must be kept down" The COM
mon people seem to understand how to
live cheaply. Many of the laboring
men earn but two shillings day, and
yet manage to support families, and lay
up enough money to give decent
burial to those members of their families
who find themselves unable to keep up
the task of trying to live.
In the town of CIymer, ChautauGua
County, N. Y, is a large settlement of
Hollanders, the older members of which
brought from their fatherIand the simple
manners and industrious habits which
have always been characteristic of that
race. Nearly without exception they
are engaged in general farming and
dairying, and to supplement their farm
labors they have introduced an industry
which is carried on in no other place in
the Union. This is the making of the
wooden shoes or clogs which are so COM
mon in Holland and some other foreign
countries. During the coolest days and
the long winter evenings these Holland
ers ply their knives and "shaves" almost
without cessation. The business is really
a monopoly, and of late it has proved
very profitable, the demand for the
clumsy shoes for decorative pur-
poses not only enhancing their value,
which the shrewd Dutchmen were
quick to see, but increasing the num-
Der called for very materially. The
woods used are Eastwood and cucum-
Der. Each shoe is bored and cut from
single block. They become so well
seasoned that pair made in the best
manner is almost indestructible. The
bulk of these shoes is handled by a
dealer in Cory, Pa, and a large num-
Der are sent to the Philadelphia market.
1t also requires great many to supply
the wants of the colony itself, as the
shoes are generally worn by both sexes.
There is something so odd about
wooden shoes that they are regarded as
great curiosities, and are often found
in museum collections. Regular wooden
shoes modelled after the old Dutch pat
terms are kept for sale in many novelty
stores in cities. Boots and Shoes.